🎧 Mission E · Youth Culture in India
Being 15 in India — how similar is it to being 15 here?
📖 Background briefing
Music and social media: Bollywood film songs are still huge, but Indian hip-hop and independent music (like Mumbai's underground rap scene, which inspired the film Gully Boy) have exploded in popularity. India is one of the biggest markets in the world for YouTube and Instagram. In 2020, India banned TikTok — so Indian apps and Instagram Reels quickly took its place among teenagers.
Exam pressure like almost nowhere else: Getting into a top university, especially for engineering or medicine, is extremely competitive — national entrance exams like JEE and NEET have millions of applicants for a small number of places. This has created a huge private "coaching" (tutoring) industry. The city of Kota, in Rajasthan, has become famous — and controversial — as a hub almost entirely built around exam coaching, where teenagers move away from home just to prepare for these tests.
Gender roles in change: More young women in India are going to university and starting careers than a generation ago. At the same time, traditions like arranged marriage are still common, and expectations can differ sharply between families, cities and regions. Many young people today are openly discussing and questioning these traditional expectations, often online.
Old words, new style
A staged, symbolic image rather than a real Indian artist — but it captures something true: many young Indians today remix inherited tradition with global youth culture (streetwear, rap, social media) into something new.
Exam hall
Rows of teenagers sitting an entrance exam that could shape the rest of their lives — after months, sometimes years, of coaching to prepare for this one morning.
Holi
The "festival of colours" — friends and strangers throw coloured powder at each other in the street. For many young Indians, it's one of the most fun days of the year.
What happened to TikTok in India in 2020, and what replaced it?
Why has the city of Kota become famous — and why is that fame controversial?
Name one way gender roles are changing for young people in India today.
📱 Build your product: digital youth magazine
Your team is writing three short pieces for a digital youth magazine page. Keep each piece punchy and magazine-style — headline plus a short paragraph, like something a 15-year-old would actually want to read.
Write a short piece about music or social media trends among Indian teenagers.
Invent a 15-year-old Indian student and describe an ordinary school day, including the exam pressure they might feel.
Write a short opinion piece: how are gender roles and expectations changing for young people in India?
Submit your mission
Enter your name and class, then submit. Bring your magazine page to Phase 4 for the class exhibition.
Nicely done
Your magazine page is saved. Head to the Global Challenge Lab once all teams have finished Phase 2.